So I know I haven't blogged in awhile and I'm sorry. Honestly I've just been too busy! Busy with friends, my boyfriend visiting, korean class and everything else under the sun.
I hardly ever have a weekend off and I'm woefully behind on my other projects such as finishing all the tv shows I'm behind on, colouring, letter writing and writing, I know, I know important stuff.
So I do plan to update you on a few things you're probably wondering about, I know the last post I wrote was about korean and my korean class so I'll pick up after that with my Guest English Teacher workshop.
This event was amazing. Before this I'd only met one other public school english teacher so I was super excited to meet other teachers and I did! I met a bunch of really cool people who have since then introduced me to other really cool people and etc. One of the guys I actually already knew, but I didn't realize he also worked at a public school.
The work shop also went over what our roles were supposed to look like, ideas to use in the class room and other interesting stuff about Korean culture (a lot of it I already knew). It also provided free lunch and snacks which was nice.
Finally I had some friends with the same schedule as me which has been amazing. There really isn't much else to say about the conference. For me, the most interesting part was just meeting the other teachers and talking about our experiences.
Other cool things I've done since then has been just hanging out with friends, going on the standard trips and stuff. We went to the art gallery one weekend which was really cool, I saw the new avengers movie which I loved then proceeded to go home and watch all the other avengers movies in that same week... I know I know, life goals, right?
Basically I spent a lot of time counting down until Jon got here! I was very nervous and excited to have someone to show around and hang out with. Nervous because I wasn't sure if he'd like Korea or how we should spend our time or where we would go or if he'd like my friends and etc. Also because I hadn't seen him in so long. It felt like two worlds were colliding.
I know my world at home and my world here are both very real, tangible places with very real and important people in them, but honestly it always feels like this world is separate from that world. I feel like a different person here, I have so much freedom and free time. I am so much more financially independent than I've ever been before and independent in other ways too, there's no family or circle of old friends to rely on and though that sounds like a bad thing, it's actually sort of great too. It gives you that extra push to move outside your comfort zone and make new friendships with people you ordinarily wouldn't or to do things you normally wouldn't. It really allows you to have a lot of freedom in a way I hadn't experienced before.
So basically that made the whole thing feel strange, but I was also excited because who wouldn't be after not seeing their boyfriend for 7 months? Also, I realized that week that was arriving on our anniversary which was pretty cool.
Luckily we found plenty to do, we went to the other two neighbourhoods in Changwon, Jinhae and Masan and we ate lots of yummy korean foods and walked all around the city looking at neat stuff. I was most worried about what Jon would do while I was at work, but it ended only being a few days we were separate because I had a along weekend and then the second week he was here I got sick and had to stay home.
I also impressed myself with how much Korean I understood and could use. Reading and listening, it was a relief. I thought I'd be fumbling around the menus and not understanding more than I was. It definitely made the Korean lessons worth it. Actually, I would forget Jon couldn't read the Korean and we'd be looking at the menu and ask about something I'd be like it's blah blah blah and then see it says beef right there and he'd just look at me blankly.... oh yeah, you can't read the Korean, sorry... haha. I'm used to spending time with people who can read Korean fairly well so it was easy to forget.
I also, showed him how to get around and where all the cool stuff was near my house so he had places he could easily find while I was at work, He seemed to manage quite well and went all over the place while I was working which I was happy about.
The only crappy thing that happened was getting sick. He had a cold and then I got a fever or flu or something the last week he was there, it was a blessing in disguise though because I felt so crappy I ended up taking two days off work and could spend more time with him, although I was too tired to do very much which sucked, I mostly just felt like sleeping. I finally felt completely recovered at the beginning of this week (I also got a cold at the same time and my allergies had been dreadful).
Some of the stranger/funnier things that happened were when we'd go out to eat and not understand what the Korean's were saying to us. One place we went to we were pretty sure we got some free meat, but not 100% because we weren't sure what we'd ordered to beginning with (only that it was samgyapsal) then we also tried to order some citron soju (a popular Korean drink) but the lady didn't know what I was talking about... I finally showed her a picture on google and she understood perfectly.
Another time we went for soft tofu stew at a place I'd never been to and the lady showed us how to make tea from our rice crusted on the bottom of the dish (I forgot what it's called, but yes, it's a thing here). She got so worried that we weren't making it (I think because the dishes were getting cold) that she came over and started scooping our rice out... then she saw I hadn't started eating right away and was worried the soup was too spicy for me (she had to write the word down because I couldn't understand her) I tried desperately to convey that the soup was fine, but she didn't seem to believe me and then brought us an extra side dish of fish, which we weren't even able to eat... there was already tons of food. It was pretty awkward.
When you order spicy food in Korea they always tell you that it's spicy... for some reason they don't believe us when we say it's fine. It's kinda funny actually. My favourite dining experience was when we went for ramen and they had a show with cute kids hanging out with their dads on the tv. It was right in front of me so I ended up watching it the entire time, also, Korean kids are ridiculously cute. They have really round, chubby faces with cute pink cheeks and it's completely adorable.
I was pretty sad by the time Jon had to go, it was so fun having him here! It made me miss everyone at home more too. Still, I love it here and I want to finish my time before I head out on my next adventure hopefully somewhere else equally amazing and fun.
So lots of other great things have happened as well, but I honestly don't want to make this any longer since I think it'd be annoying to read. Hopefully you guys all enjoy this! Next weekend I'm going to Namhea for the holiday long weekend here (Buddha's birthday, yes that's a thing) so I'll have lots of adventure and fun to write about. '
I hardly ever have a weekend off and I'm woefully behind on my other projects such as finishing all the tv shows I'm behind on, colouring, letter writing and writing, I know, I know important stuff.
So I do plan to update you on a few things you're probably wondering about, I know the last post I wrote was about korean and my korean class so I'll pick up after that with my Guest English Teacher workshop.
This event was amazing. Before this I'd only met one other public school english teacher so I was super excited to meet other teachers and I did! I met a bunch of really cool people who have since then introduced me to other really cool people and etc. One of the guys I actually already knew, but I didn't realize he also worked at a public school.
The work shop also went over what our roles were supposed to look like, ideas to use in the class room and other interesting stuff about Korean culture (a lot of it I already knew). It also provided free lunch and snacks which was nice.
Finally I had some friends with the same schedule as me which has been amazing. There really isn't much else to say about the conference. For me, the most interesting part was just meeting the other teachers and talking about our experiences.
Other cool things I've done since then has been just hanging out with friends, going on the standard trips and stuff. We went to the art gallery one weekend which was really cool, I saw the new avengers movie which I loved then proceeded to go home and watch all the other avengers movies in that same week... I know I know, life goals, right?
Basically I spent a lot of time counting down until Jon got here! I was very nervous and excited to have someone to show around and hang out with. Nervous because I wasn't sure if he'd like Korea or how we should spend our time or where we would go or if he'd like my friends and etc. Also because I hadn't seen him in so long. It felt like two worlds were colliding.
I know my world at home and my world here are both very real, tangible places with very real and important people in them, but honestly it always feels like this world is separate from that world. I feel like a different person here, I have so much freedom and free time. I am so much more financially independent than I've ever been before and independent in other ways too, there's no family or circle of old friends to rely on and though that sounds like a bad thing, it's actually sort of great too. It gives you that extra push to move outside your comfort zone and make new friendships with people you ordinarily wouldn't or to do things you normally wouldn't. It really allows you to have a lot of freedom in a way I hadn't experienced before.
So basically that made the whole thing feel strange, but I was also excited because who wouldn't be after not seeing their boyfriend for 7 months? Also, I realized that week that was arriving on our anniversary which was pretty cool.
Luckily we found plenty to do, we went to the other two neighbourhoods in Changwon, Jinhae and Masan and we ate lots of yummy korean foods and walked all around the city looking at neat stuff. I was most worried about what Jon would do while I was at work, but it ended only being a few days we were separate because I had a along weekend and then the second week he was here I got sick and had to stay home.
I also impressed myself with how much Korean I understood and could use. Reading and listening, it was a relief. I thought I'd be fumbling around the menus and not understanding more than I was. It definitely made the Korean lessons worth it. Actually, I would forget Jon couldn't read the Korean and we'd be looking at the menu and ask about something I'd be like it's blah blah blah and then see it says beef right there and he'd just look at me blankly.... oh yeah, you can't read the Korean, sorry... haha. I'm used to spending time with people who can read Korean fairly well so it was easy to forget.
I also, showed him how to get around and where all the cool stuff was near my house so he had places he could easily find while I was at work, He seemed to manage quite well and went all over the place while I was working which I was happy about.
The only crappy thing that happened was getting sick. He had a cold and then I got a fever or flu or something the last week he was there, it was a blessing in disguise though because I felt so crappy I ended up taking two days off work and could spend more time with him, although I was too tired to do very much which sucked, I mostly just felt like sleeping. I finally felt completely recovered at the beginning of this week (I also got a cold at the same time and my allergies had been dreadful).
Some of the stranger/funnier things that happened were when we'd go out to eat and not understand what the Korean's were saying to us. One place we went to we were pretty sure we got some free meat, but not 100% because we weren't sure what we'd ordered to beginning with (only that it was samgyapsal) then we also tried to order some citron soju (a popular Korean drink) but the lady didn't know what I was talking about... I finally showed her a picture on google and she understood perfectly.
Another time we went for soft tofu stew at a place I'd never been to and the lady showed us how to make tea from our rice crusted on the bottom of the dish (I forgot what it's called, but yes, it's a thing here). She got so worried that we weren't making it (I think because the dishes were getting cold) that she came over and started scooping our rice out... then she saw I hadn't started eating right away and was worried the soup was too spicy for me (she had to write the word down because I couldn't understand her) I tried desperately to convey that the soup was fine, but she didn't seem to believe me and then brought us an extra side dish of fish, which we weren't even able to eat... there was already tons of food. It was pretty awkward.
When you order spicy food in Korea they always tell you that it's spicy... for some reason they don't believe us when we say it's fine. It's kinda funny actually. My favourite dining experience was when we went for ramen and they had a show with cute kids hanging out with their dads on the tv. It was right in front of me so I ended up watching it the entire time, also, Korean kids are ridiculously cute. They have really round, chubby faces with cute pink cheeks and it's completely adorable.
I was pretty sad by the time Jon had to go, it was so fun having him here! It made me miss everyone at home more too. Still, I love it here and I want to finish my time before I head out on my next adventure hopefully somewhere else equally amazing and fun.
So lots of other great things have happened as well, but I honestly don't want to make this any longer since I think it'd be annoying to read. Hopefully you guys all enjoy this! Next weekend I'm going to Namhea for the holiday long weekend here (Buddha's birthday, yes that's a thing) so I'll have lots of adventure and fun to write about. '
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